Twenty-odd years ago, a very good friend of mine who was the Flight Ops Director for a large UK charter airline told me that he would never hire a pilot just because said pilot had a type rating. He was much more interested in finding a loyal employee.
Those were the days.
Then the accountants took over.
In came bonding because a small proportion of type-hunters had got the rating and then done a runner. The typical bond worked along the lines that your bond reduced every month by a fixed amount so that after three years the account was settled and the type rating was yours.
I had two such bonds and had no problem with them for I had every intention of staying where I was for the bonding period at the very least.
Then the accountants took over.
They came up with a scheme whereby the trainee took out a loan with an approved bank which had to pay the company for the balance if the trainee did a runner.
Whilst this period of UK aviation was going on, people were banging on and on about how iniquitous the practice of bonding was. One of my friends decided to duck his bond and, despite good legal representation (which he had to pay for himself as BALPA were less than interested) he got pursued relentlessly through the courts and had to pay the balance plus legal costs.
Then the accountants took over.
Why should we hire pilots who are not qualified to do the job? Why should we go to the expense of training them?
And so it was that organisations such as CTC got started. They got the costs of the training out of the trainee (and no doubt got a good kick-back from the airline that hired their product). The airlines and the accountants were delighted for they took no risks and it cost them nothing and they liked the product. Unless you went through CTC or Oxford etc, you couldn't even get past the dragon on the front desk with your CV.
Then the accountants took over.
So, we have cleverly got these bums on seats in the flight deck that have, so far, cost us no money. They could still fail to cut the mustard during line-training so why should we pay for that? What we need is a scheme whereby the trainee pays for everything until they have 500 hours on line.
That is where we are now ladies and gentlemen.
Don't blame the youngsters who want to get into our wonderful profession. They are no different to you and I when we were younger. A whole series of hurdles are raised in life that have to be crossed otherwise the goal cannot be reached.
If you cannot get into the RAF or afford to learn to fly and go down the CTC route then you need to look elsewhere in this modern climate. I had no money when I embarked upon my long and successful flying career and it was bloody hard work but I got there and had a hell of a lot of fun on the way.
I don't like the way that things have gone in my profession but it is still possible to succeed. I advised a young man a few years ago that sitting on your arse and complaining was simply not an option. He paid for his type rating on my advice and has now paid off the lot and is doing very well and making a profit. What is more, the type rating is his.
I regret to say that a lot of youngsters out there are going to have to take a reality check. I cannot think of one UK airline that is even likely to be hiring pilots for the foreseeable future far less offering a bond.
I was told recently by a young man on prune that BA do not bond their pilots. That is entirely true (at the moment) so all you have to do is get hired by BA (and don't forget, if you succeed, to join the pension scheme).
I think, for the moment at least, the accountants have won.
I hate that.
What might cheer you up is that when you finally get airborne in the morning on a really dank day and break out through the cloud tops and see the sun and the most beautiful sunrise in the world, the miserable bast*rd accountant will still be sat in his miserable bast*ard office.
That is why you are there and why he is there.